Rudolph
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: A little Christmas fun between Riku and Naminé for Namiku Day.


**Rudolph**

"Riku, I think you should get a party hat for Christmas," Naminé was telling Riku right now, as she pulled aforementioned hat—that had a giant bell on top of it—down over his eyes. And since Riku hated this hat, he tried hard not to give in just because it was Naminé and she was cute.

He understood why Naminé was pushing the holiday so much this year, of course: it was the first time they were all together since Sora had disappeared, but he didn't know why he apparently needed to get this hat to make it work. It went against everything he believed in.

"Naminé… I'd rather not sound like someone's missing cow every time I walk past them," Riku pouted now, as he took the offending article off of his head. "Isn't there something else I can do to make your holiday perfect?"

Thankfully, Naminé didn't get mad at Riku's request. Instead, she helped him put the cap back where they had found it, said a few kind words to the shop owner who'd suggested it to them, and then was leading Riku back outside towards the sweets shop?

"I guess if you don't want to wear a hat, it's your call. That is more of a Sora thing, after all. But Riku… I feel like you should be trying to enjoy Christmas more. It wasn't that long ago that you thought Sora and Kairi would never forgive you, and that you would always be alone on that day… It also hasn't been that long since I thought any Christmas I would ever see would be from behind Kairi's eyes."

Naminé definitely had a point—didn't she always?—and as Riku took her hand to hold in his, he hoped she realized that this was his way of telling her that… the problem was just that he'd never been as festive or outgoing as Sora and Kairi were, but he was trying to enjoy it with Naminé in the best way that he knew how.

Actually, he was even trying to do more than that: he was trying to give Naminé every little thing she'd never had before.

Like right now, it was snowing way more than the Islands had ever seen before—a type of weather that Sora resented after his time in Arendelle—and Riku, despite hating the cold, was making sure to entertain Naminé through it, because he knew she'd never seen snow before.

"I'm all for cooking and getting into the holidays _that_ way. You don't happen to see a soup kitchen nearby that we could volunteer at, do you?"

Riku would have just cooked for Naminé at his house, of course, but the two of them had wanted to go out. So that meant that if he wanted to get into the holiday mood for Naminé in this way, he would _have_ to find somewhere volunteer.

Besides, volunteering was a good thing, right? It helped with college applications—something that Riku was actually starting to worry about—and Christmas was all supposed to be about aiding people.

Naminé looked at Riku open-mouthed at this, and he supposed he could understand why. For many years, Kairi had done all of the cooking in their little group of friends. And then once Sora had learned from Remy, he had stepped up to the plate himself. So when it was sliced like that, Riku supposed that many people probably had no idea that he could even cook.

But the fact was, that Riku was a bit of a chef and could make some good food… he just preferred to cook healthy things. But since junk food was actually cheaper, it didn't give him much of an opportunity to practice his skills. But chicken noodle soup was healthy! Hence his plan.

Naminé, if he was judging her expression right, seemed about to tell Riku that she had _no_ idea where they would run into one of those—when lo and behold, what would the couple see before their very eyes but a hotel room having been turned into a kitchen for the night?

Riku was just about to go into it, but Naminé tugging on his arm stopped him. He looked at her confusedly for the action, but when she gazed at him uncertainly, Riku got it. Right. Naminé still wasn't used to big crowds and they made her uncomfortable. On their way they went, then.

"…I'm sorry, Riku," Naminé muttered a little while after they'd left the place, as they nearly ran into someone selling chocolate covered pretzels in the dark night. "Here I was, telling you to find the Christmas spirit and I ruined it for you. If you want to go back, I won't stop you. Surely I can get over my fear a little bit here…"

Riku just shrugged his shoulders and sent a small smile Naminé's way to let her know she was forgiven. She grinned back, and it sent Riku's heart a pitter-pattering in his ribcage… that he tried not to show.

"That's okay, Naminé. This was more about you, anyway, and I was being a little selfish before, myself. If you seeing me with a Christmas hat makes you happy and your Christmas heart sing, I'm more than happy to oblige."

So Riku ended up buying a hat—a more expensive one, but he didn't care since it was for Naminé—at a shop that had calendars, games, and few other odds and ends: Naminé's face absolutely lit _up_ when she saw a kitten Christmas calendar, so Riku decided to buy that for her, too.

Once they were leaving the building—as Naminé was holding Riku's arm and leaning into him as they walked, and oh how nice that felt—Naminé said, "Because of this silly Rudolph hat you're wearing, I feel warm and like my soul is alight… but Riku, is there anything I can do for you to make you feel that way?"

And muttering under his breath, Riku admitted that just seeing her get to enjoy her life for once was more than enough for him… which Naminé must have heard, because to say her cheeks grew as red as the "Rudolph's nose" on Riku's hat, would've been an understatement.

But deciding to try and play it off—and to ignore the fuzzy feelings they were getting for each other right now—Naminé went and bought Riku a special cherry Christmas cookie, and the duo then went and sang Christmas carols with a group so that they'd have chaperones.


End file.
